The International Crisis Group today launched a new global advocacy initiative designed to generate new political momentum for a comprehensive settlement of the Arab-Israeli conflict. Major funding support for the initiative — to cost around $400,000 in its first year — was announced at the Clinton Global Initiative meeting in New York. “After the chaos of the last few months, there is a new sense of urgency about finding a comprehensive, just and sustainable peace”, said Crisis Group President Gareth Evans. “There is also broad international understanding of what is needed to ultimately resolve the conflict. But the spark has to be somehow lit, and a serious new process started”. Read more about Global Advocacy Initiative Towards a Comprehensive Settlement
The spirit of international cooperation that last month ended the deadly conflict in Lebanon should now be applied to resolve the question of Palestine, “the root of all the conflicts and wars” in the Middle East for many decades, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas told the United Nations General Assembly. Addressing the Assembly’s annual debate, Mr. Abbas called for the unconditional resumption of negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians and an end to the suffering of his people, warning of the devastating impact on the region if these issues are not resolved. Read more about Middle East peace talks must resume without preconditions, Palestinian leader tells UN
Voicing dismay that the conflict in the Middle East has become “the epicentre of global instability,” French President Jacques Chirac told world leaders who gathered today for the General Assembly that it was time to “tread off the beaten track of habit” and devise a global strategy for an Israeli-Palestinian settlement. “The status quo has become unbearable. Because the conflict in the Middle East is a threat to global peace and security, the world has no option but to be the guarantor of peace,” Mr. Chirac said in a speech to the general debate of the Assembly’s 61st session. Read more about Solution to Middle East conflict requires new global strategy, French President tells UN
A delegation of top Israeli, Palestinian and international women leaders arrive at the United Nations on September 20th to meet with President of the Republic of Finland Tarja Halonen, at a time when Finland holds the Presidency of the European Union, in an effort to marshal high-level political pressure to restart negotiations in the region. Joining the President of Finland will be President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf of Liberia, Africa’s first elected woman head of state, who traveled to the occupied Palestinian territory in 2001 to hear the stories of women living in conflict as part of the Independent Experts’ Assessment on the impact of war on women, commissioned by the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM). Read more about Women's meeting at UN encourages negotiations
15 September 2006 - Palestinians face major difficulties in Gaza, including shortages of food and a crippled fishing industry because of the continued conflict with Israel, the United Nations food agency warned today, as it distributes aid to almost a quarter of a million of those most in need. “Gaza’s food security remains an issue of serious concern, the World Food Programme (WFP) says. Naval restrictions continue to block all boats from fishing off-shore, crippling the fishing industry,” UN spokesman Marie Okabe told reporters in New York. Read more about Gaza faces major food problems, warns UN agency assisting over 200,000 people there
With the new school year beginning in just a few days, 70 per cent of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip cannot feed themselves without assistance, a 30 per cent increase in the number in just over a year, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) said today. The Gaza economy is near total collapse and WFP, which this month increased the number of people to whom it is providing food by 25 per cent to 220,000 persons, will try to add more beneficiaries since the situation was deteriorating on a daily basis, spokeswoman Christiane Berthiaume told a news briefing in Geneva. Read more about Seventy per cent of Palestinians in Gaza need international food aid to survive – UN
Palestinians face major difficulties in Gaza, including shortages of food and a crippled fishing industry because of the continued conflict with Israel, the United Nations food agency warned today, as it distributes aid to almost a quarter of a million of those most in need. “Gaza’s food security remains an issue of serious concern, the World Food Programme (WFP) says. Naval restrictions continue to block all boats from fishing off-shore, crippling the fishing industry,” UN spokesman Marie Okabe told reporters in New York. “Furthermore, Gaza’s agricultural markets continue to suffer from access restrictions. WFP is distributing food to 220,000 of the most vulnerable people. Read more about Gaza faces major food problems
Six months of a crippling international embargo on the occupied Palestinian territories (oPt) has brought its economy to a virtual standstill. As a result, children are being driven increasingly to find work to help support their families. “After my father became jobless, I joined my friends to work at the checkpoint in order to support my 11-member family,” said Subhi Abdullah 16, referring to his unofficial job at al-Hawawer Israeli checkpoint in the West Bank city of Hebron. While plans were announced on Monday for a Palestinian unity government that could meet conditions to have the embargo lifted, ordinary Palestinians continue to suffer. Read more about Poverty drives children to work at checkpoints
Gaza City’s shopping markets used to be the richest in the Palestinian territories, but six months into a crippling trade embargo, stocks are running low. “This is the tenth store I approach to buy a single box of powdered milk for my little baby. I do not know what to do. I am ready to pay double price for having only one package, but there is none”, said 32-year-old Tareq Omar after he failed to find any powdered milk for his one-year-old baby in Gaza’s Al-Zawiya market. An economic embargo by the United States, the European Union (EU) and Israel was imposed on the occupied Palestinian territories (oPt) following the democratic election of a Hamas-led Palestinian government in February. Read more about Gaza shelves bare
Mohammed Aqdeir drinks a glass of lukewarm water despite the summer heat. The room is sweltering - but above his head the rotor blades of the fan are motionless. “I am going crazy without electricity. There is even a shortage of candles now - I had to use the two my wife and I had received from our marriage. I worry about [starting a] fire,” said the 36-year-old from Beit Lahiya. For the past two months, Gaza residents like Aqdeir have lived without a regular supply of electricity after the Israeli military bombed Gaza’s only power station on 28 June. Read more about Powerless in Gaza
